‘It’s another clarifying moment in our age of moral collapse’

‘Donald Trump’s reaction to Rob Reiner’s death is vile, even for him’

Bruce Arthur at the Toronto Star

It “feels like a sin to make the death of Rob Reiner about something other than Rob Reiner,” but we “live in a world dominated to an unreasonable degree by Donald Trump, and the American president’s reaction was vile, even for him,” says Bruce Arthur. The “death of Rob Reiner, at age 78, was a tragedy,” but Trump “blamed Reiner for his horrendous, awful death” in a “celestial level of narcissism, and another implicit call to political violence.”

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‘The West needs to open its eyes to honor killing’

Kevin Cohen at The Wall Street Journal

There is a “blind spot in Western risk-assessment frameworks,” says Kevin Cohen. Domestic violence “models assume gradual escalation and individual actors,” but “violence can erupt suddenly, collectively and in response to one perceived moral transgression.” When “Western institutions misread these signals, even a well-designed system can fail when it’s needed most.” When a “young woman’s autonomy conflicts with an inherited code of obedience, geography alone doesn’t prevent violence.” These “patterns endure” in “several countries.”

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‘Nigeria must not become America’s next battlefield’

Tafi Mhaka at Al Jazeera

There is a “pattern that has become increasingly familiar across northern Nigeria: mass kidnapping for ransom, striking opportunistically rather than along religious lines,” says Tafi Mhaka. But “with a few lines of incendiary rhetoric, a country grappling with criminal insecurity and institutional collapse is recast as a front line in a civilizational struggle.” Once “framed that way, Nigeria is no longer a society in need of protection and repair, but a battlefield-in-waiting.” That “shift matters.”

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‘They power the US economy, but will struggle to afford health care’

Elizabeth Aguilera at Capital & Main

The loss of enhanced tax credits will be “especially tough for the millions of small business owners and self-employed workers across the U.S.,” says Elizabeth Aguilera. The “consequences will ripple through communities and we all stand to lose,” as “small business owners are the country’s biggest job creators and power local economies.” They “preserve neighborhood culture, prepare our food, care for our children, create entertainment and build community,” but “now face choosing between health care and their livelihoods.”

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